Majority Swiss co-development funding

• Projects in development
• Individual projects or series for various platforms with the following minimum lengths (for series, the individual episodes are added to give the total length):

There is no minimum length requirement for non-linear audiovisual projects such as virtual reality. However, they are only eligible for funding if they are narrative in nature and can therefore be classified as one of the eligible genres (fiction, creative documentary, animation).​

• The project must be developed under the responsibility of the Swiss production company submitting the application.

• The majority of the rights must be held by this production company at the time of application and throughout the entire development period.

The following contracts are recognised:

• Option agreement for the rights to the pre-existing work and screenplay contract, or
• Screenplay contract for the original work between the author and the production company, or
• Unilateral transfer of rights if the author is also the producer, shareholder or employee of the production company, or
• Co-production or co-development contract governing majority ownership.
   
• The first day of shooting may take place no earlier than eight months after the application is submitted. In justified cases, an exemption may be granted for documentary film projects upon request.
• The projects must be likely to be recognised by the FOC as Swiss films or co-productions between Switzerland and other countries.
• Co-produced projects must be conceived and developed under the responsibility of the Swiss production company submitting the application. The co-production must be carried out with at least one country that has ratified the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production (1992 or 2017 version) or that has concluded a co-production agreement with Switzerland. Audiovisual media services are generally not considered to be independent production companies.

Ineligible projects
Live recordings; TV game shows; talk shows; reality shows; music videos; video games; interactive books; educational, school and learning programmes; documentaries promoting tourism; making-ofs; reporting and animal documentaries; news programmes and docu-soaps; Projects with racist, pornographic or violence-glorifying content; works of an advertising nature; institutional productions that serve to promote an institution and/or its activities. 

Independent Swiss production companies (headquartered in Switzerland; not wholly or partly owned or significantly influenced by a audiovisual media service) that

- have been in existence for at least 12 months (to be proven, e.g. with an extract from the commercial register),
- have film production as their main activity,
- have already produced a reference work that has been commercially exploited (details below).

For each deadline, a maximum of one project per company may be submitted under this funding line.

If any of the following points apply to the project, no application may be submitted:

• The project has already been rejected once for this funding and has not been revised for a second submission.
• The project has been rejected twice under the MEDIA compensating measures.
• The project has been rejected twice under the FOC production funding scheme.
• The project has a letter of intent from the FOC for production, or succès cinéma credits have already been invested in the production of the project.

Companies that have not yet rendered accounts of a previous slate funding from the MEDIA compensating measures cannot submit an application. 

In order to submit an application, a company must have already produced a reference work that meets the criteria for this funding (minimum duration, genre).

The applicant company

• has produced the reference work in its entirety, or
• in the case of a co-production, had a majority stake.

A reference work can also be recognised if the managing director of the applicant company is personally credited as (delegate) producer (personal credit). In this case, the work may also be a production for another company.

• The reference work must have been completed within the five calendar years prior to the submission of the application
• and must have been commercially distributed in at least one country outside Switzerland within the three years prior to the submission of the application. Commercial distribution is defined as cinema or TV exploitation (the date of broadcast is decisive) as well as online distribution or sale via a world sales agent, provided that proof of income (revenues report) from the reference period is available. Festival or DVD distribution is not accepted. For narrative XR or interactive works, museum distribution is considered commercial if a fee has been paid for it. 

Example
Deadline: 28 March 2024
Reference work completed from 1 January 2019
Reference work distributed from 1 January 2021 

TIP
Reference works and documents such as extracts from the commercial register are used for the formal verification of production companies and are stored at MEDIA Desk Suisse. If the documents from a previous application are still valid, they do not need to be resubmitted.

Per year there are two deadlines for single projects (spring and autumn) and one deadline for slates (summer). Each company may submit a maximum of one application per deadline. Applications may be submitted at any time once the call for proposals has been opened on the FPF funding platform. However, they will only be evaluated after the official deadline. The date of the application may be important in order to claim costs already incurred and to comply with the eight-month deadline for the start of filming.

Projects submitted from 2026 onwards must be settled no later than 24 months after payment of the first instalment. An extension of 6 months is possible upon justification.

The following maximum amounts may be granted:

• Feature films with a production budget of less than CHF 1.65 million: CHF 33'000
• Feature films with a production budget of more than CHF 1.65 million: CHF 55'000
• Creative documentaries: CHF 33'000
• Animated films: CHF 60'000
• Series: CHF 60'000

All federal funds combined (including MEDIA compensating measures, FOC funding, Succès Cinéma funds and support from other federal departments) may not exceed 70% of Swiss financing.
Financial assistance through MEDIA compensating measures may cover up to 70% of eligible costs (see below).

The costs must have been incurred by the applicant company and are eligible from the date of application until the start of production. The date of payment, not the date of the contract, is decisive.

• Acquisition of author' rights (eligible from 12 months prior to application)
• Research work (including archive research)
• Writing the screenplay (treatment to final version)
• Pre-production costs for casting the most important crew and cast members
• Preparation costs for drawing up the production budget and financing plan
• Search for business partners, co-producers and financiers;
• Preparation of the shooting schedule up to approval;
• Marketing and distribution plan (research of distribution markets and buyers, presentation at festivals and markets);
• Production of the teaser;
• Max. 7.5% of overheads, provided the expenses are not budgeted separately.

Applications are evaluated by a European (non-Swiss) expert with MEDIA experience using a points system. The experts remain anonymous; the list of experts is published at the end of each year on the Results page. If a project is evaluated for a second time, a new expert is assigned, who receives a summary of the arguments for the first rejection.

Projects that receive at least 70 points are eligible for funding. If the eligible projects exceed the available budget, those with the highest scores will be funded.

Projects that score 70 or more points can additionally receive automatic points:

• 5 points for co-productions with a country that has ratified the European Co-production Agreement (1992 or 2017 version) if a deal memo or co-production agreement is available at the time of application (LOI is not sufficient),
  5 points for projects aimed at young audiences under the age of 12 (including animated films). The expert must confirm the young target audience in order for the points to be awarded.
   

The detailed criteria with all points to be awarded can be found in the evaluation sheet under ‘Resources’ (at the bottom of the page).

The results are usually available eight weeks after the deadline.

A project can be submitted a maximum of two times. If a project is submitted for the second time, the further development must be clearly described.

For the development of co-production projects with Swiss minority participation, there is the ‘Minority Swiss co-development’ funding line.

There is also a slate line funding, whereby 3-5 projects in development are submitted together.

Applications must be submitted via the Federal Office of Culture's eSubventions funding platform.